Snippet #2054199

“Huh, guess I'm a little late for the party,” Raquel muttered to herself. She had spent the day psyching herself up for what she had thought would be a serious fight. Instead someone else had cleared the road for her, or rather, the wall. It made her job a bit easier anyways. She used the hole that had been blasted away, though with the way everyone was running around it probably would've been just as easy to use the front door.

Most of the institute's staff seemed oblivious to her, so she took her time walking around. It looked like most of “residents” had disappeared. She felt guilty not taking the rest of them with her, but she'd have a hard enough time just getting her sister somewhere safe. So she trucked on, a few people seemed to realize she didn't belong. The concussions she gave them would probably make that less of an issue for them.

After a few minutes of wandering around (Plus a few more concussions passed around) she decided that she'd need some help finding her sister in the maze of halls. Luckily for her, she stumbled across an office with someone minding the facility's records.

“Well hey there,” she said, placing a meaty hand on the record keeper's head. “I'm gonna need you to pull up everything you've got on Sasha Torrez. Age 15, skinny, has a sister with a nasty temper”

“Who ar-” the keeper started before Raquel started increasing the gravity around her.

“Gonna need you to be a bit quicker,” Raquel smiled. “Oh, you're gonna be playin' tour guide for me too. That's a good boy.” She patted him on the head, releasing the pressure on him once he started picking away at his keyboard.

There were a whole lot of papers to be printed she noticed. Horrible pricks that they are, at least the institute kept impeccable records. She skimmed a few sheets while the rest printed, taking a brief moment to slam the keeper on the ground when he tried to run. The first few didn't have much she didn't already know; health records, history, a recounting of the school incident. There was a list of the medications that they had been giving her sister, mostly anti-psychotics and sedatives. Raquel didn't know a whole lot about medicine, but the doses they were giving Sasha seemed way too high.

Then there were the records of experimentation. The early ones looked like they were testing the extant of Sasha's powers, pumping her full of adrenaline to counter the sedatives before shooting her with non-lethal rounds, putting her in hyperbaric chambers to see how much pressure she can withstand, trapping her in enclosed spaces to see if she could break out of them. Apparently Sasha had given them so much trouble during these tests that they just kept her sedated now. Instead they refocused on what caused her powers to manifest and how they worked. This involved vivisection and experimental surgeries.

Raquel took a long, deep breath while she tried not to vomit or crush the skull of everyone in her immediate vicinity. Having succeeded at that, she took the files and stuffed them into the bag she had brought with her. She regretted not bringing something to copy all of the facility's records now. They would've been useful in starting a real investigation of the institute. With the recent breakout they'd probably move them off property now. Hell they probably had falsified records ready to cover their asses.

She clicked her tongue, now wasn't the time to be chiding herself.

“Right, little man. Time to get your ass in gear,” she said. They passed through what seemed to be endless spiral of hallways. Raquel started to suspect the keeper was just trying to keep busy until a cape could come along to stop her, but they came to Sasha's cell eventually. So it was just an architect who was terrible at his job.

After breaking down the door (the keeper mentioned a pass code she could've used afterwards) and making sure Sasha was actually there, Raquel dismissed her guide with threats of maimings and murder.

She swept up Sasha in big bear hug, squeezing her tight to her chest. “Oh squirt, I'm so sorry. I had no idea what they were doing to you. I should've never let them take you.” Raquel set her down, taking a moment to break the bindings on her straight jacket. “Listen, I'm getting you outta here now. Are you OK to walk?”

Sasha looked up at her sister, her eyes glazed over and head lulled to the side. “I..Yeah, I can walk. I think...Yeah.” Her head was so foggy. It was always foggy now. Sometimes it wasn't before, everything was fast then, but then they'd hurt her and there wasn't time to think. She had to act, quick quick quick. Hurt them first. But that was a long time ago or she thought it had been a long time. It was hard to tell now.

“Are we going home? Are mom and dad home now?”

“Ah, no. They aren't and we can't go home. Or, not yet at least. We've gotta hide for now.” Raquel sighed, rubbing the back of her head. “Listen squirt, I need you to focus. I know it's hard with all the stuff they pumped you full of, but you can do it. You're tough, yeah?” She pulled a change of clothes out of her bag. “You're gonna have to change before we go.”

“Oh...Yeah, OK...” With a bit of effort she managed to fumble out of what she was wearing. “These, uh...the arm things...Sleeves. Yeah, these sleeves are so long,” She muttered. Raquel cringed seeing all the scars that Sasha had accrued during her stay. “Why are these sleeves so long...” Raquel had to help her get the new clothes on. She wasn't sure what to bring her and opted for something simple and nondescript; sweatpants, shirt, hoodie and sneakers.

“OK, good,” Raquel said, helping Sasha to her feet. “Let's get out of....Oh balls.” She had forgotten the way out already. “Welp, good thing I don't give a crap about structural integrity.” A well of intense gravity formed on the other side of a wall, tearing it away. She repeated this over and over, leading them straight out of the institute. “Quickest way's a straight line, yeah?” she quipped.

Sasha didn't laugh.

Once they made it outside and Raquel had gained her bearings, they marched onwards. She had parked a ways from the institute, figuring it'd be easier to sneak in on foot. Ideally, they would've taken to the air, but that wouldn't work out too well for them. Sasha was in no condition to propel herself and Raquel's method was too herky-jerky for Sasha to handle at the time. Even if that wasn't the case, they'd be easier for a cape to spot in the air. A car was much less conspicuous.

Cars are also more likely to be hot wired and stolen by the recently escaped.

“Tch, looks like we're hoofin' it, Squirt.” Raquel had wanted to get as far from the institute as possible, hit up a big city and lay low until she could get them shut down. They'd have to settle for Nalliv. She was not overly enthused with the idea. Back when she was running with the cape crowd she'd passed through there with the Blitz Crew, tracking down convicts mostly. She had made more than a few enemies there and now she'd have to avoid them and the capes. “How you holdin' up? Want me to carry you?”

Sasha shook her head. “No, I'm, uh, fine...Just, it's hard to think.” Raquel frowned, it was just now occurring to her that Sasha been getting pumped full of drugs for a while now. There was a good chance that she had built up an addiction. Would've it have been better to grab some of the meds and ween her sister of them slowly she wondered. She clicked her tongue, too late for that now. They'd just have to wait and see what happens. Worst comes to worst she'd track down one of those night nurses that catered to the vigilantes. Most of them were pretty good at keeping secrets.

After a good hour they made it to the city proper. Sasha had given in and climbed onto Raquel's back. Now that they were there, Raquel had to stop and think what their next step was. She had brought cash, so they could get a hotel room, but there was no telling how long they'd have to make that last and she wasn't going to risk using a credit card. She had ditched those before heading out to the institute, way too easy to track them. She huffed, chiding herself again. She hadn't planned this out nearly as well as she should have.

She swore, then started walking again. All the times she had run through the city with the Blitz Crew and she never bothered to memorize the location of anything, always following someone else instead. She hoped they could find a homeless shelter or something, she could plan their next move there.

“Sorry squirt,” she said even though Sasha had already nodded off. “Looks like we're in for a long night.”